5TH INTERNATIONAL MAYORS‘ CONFERENCE

Organised under the Auspices of the Austrian Federal President Dr. Alexander Van der Bellen

“SHAPING THE FUTURE – SOCIAL COHESION IN OUR CITIES” 29 – 30 JANUARY, 2018 – VIENNA,

This conference will address social cohesion on communal levels - with a special emphasis on children and young people using a human and children’s rights based approach. It will focus on sharing community based promising practices in the fi eld of social cohesion from Europe and the MENAT region in order to make them accessible and available for the participants’ respective area of responsibility, on learning how to best implement existing legislation, on developing the dependable Act.Now network further as well as on ensuring the continued transfer of knowledge and expertise into the future.

PRELIMINARY CONFERENCE SCHEDULE LOCATION: ÖBB-WERKSTÄTTENHALLE, SPITTELAUER LÄNDE 33, 1090 VIENNA

Monday, 29 January 2018

08.30 Registration

09.30 Opening with André Heller

10.20 VOICES OF MAYORS: SOCIAL COHESION IN OUR CITIES – CURRENT REALITIES AND CHALLENGES IN MUNICIPALITIES HOST: Muna Duzdar, MP, Austrian Parliament, Austria Halil Ibrahim Akinci, Director of the Strategic Development Dpt., Sultanbeyli Municipality, Turkey Abbas Almaharmeh, Mayor, Municipality of Sahab, Jordan Kenat Hot, Mayor, Municipality of Tutin, Serbia Merhej Najem, Expert for Education, Culture, Information, Habbariyeh Municipality, Lebanon Dieter Posch, Mayor, Municipality of Neudoerf, Austria Manolis Vournous, Mayor, Municipality of Chios, Greece Maurizio Zavaglia, Assistant Mayor, Municipality of Gioiosa Ionica, Italy

11.10 Coffee Break

11.40 PANEL 1: SOCIAL COHESION - TOWARDS NEW POLITICAL DEBATES AND POLICIES HOST: Viola Raheb, Conference Curator, University of Vienna, Austria Jürgen Czernohorszky, Vienna‘s City Councillor for Education, Integration, Youth and Personnel, Austria Yuri Kazepov, Professor at the Department of Sociology, University of Vienna, Austria Elena Mavromichali, Lead for Community Engagement and Entrepreneurship, SolidarityNow, Greece Tarek Mitri, Director, Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs, Lebanon Mikael Stigendal, Professor in Sociology, Malmö University, Josef Weidenholzer, MEP, , tbc. Rossalina Latcheva, Senior Programme Manager, Statistics and Surveys, Fundamental Rights Agency Nicholas You, Director Global Partners and Programmes, Guanghzou Institute for Urban Innovation, Kenya

13.15 Lunch

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14.15 PRESENTATION OF NOW WORKING GROUPS

EDUCATION & DIVERSITY: Viola Raheb, NOW Working Group Curator, University of Vienna, Austria EXPLOITATION: Shams Asadi, Head, Human Rights Offi ce, City of Vienna, Austria GENDER EQUALITY: Meera Jamal, Journalist, TRAUMA SURVIVING:Barbara Preitler, Psychotherapist, Hemayat, Austria

14.35 INSPIRING LOCAL, REGIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL NETWORKS WORKING ON SOCIAL COHESION ON MUNICIPALITY LEVEL Interactive Presentations and Space for Networking Child friendly Cities - UNICEF: Louise Thivant, Lead for Community Engagement and Entrepreneurship Mediterranean City-to-City Migration Project - ICMPD: Ana Feder, Project Manager, Malta International Cities of Refuge (ICORN): Helge Lunde, Executive Director, Norway Mediterranean Hope - Federazione delle Chiese Evangeliche in Italia: Federica Brizi, Italy

16.15 Coffee Break

16.45 THE FUTURE WE SEEK – BUILDING SOCIAL COHESION MODERATOR: Robert Misik Georgi Dragolov, Research Associate, Jacobs University Bremen, Germany Gianluca Solera, Policy Advisor, COSPE, Italy

18.00 CULTURAL EVENT

18.45 Dinner

Tuesday, 30 January 2018

08.30 Registration and Coffee

09.00 MUSIC – A BRIDGE TO SOCIAL COHESION: Concert with Pupils of the Oskar Spiel School, Vienna MUSIC DIRECTOR: Marwan Abado

10.00 VOICES: CHILD AND YOUTH RIGHTS – A ROADMAP TO IMPLEMENTATION – BARRIERS AND BRIDGES HOST: Anna Sporrer, Vice President of the Austrian Supreme Administrative Court, Austria Amer Bani Amer, Head, Al-Hayat Center for Civil Society Development, Jordan Astrid Winkler, Director, Ecpat, Austria

Standards for the protection of human rights of children, most notably the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, have created a powerful framework and call for action to make the world fi t for children. These standards are accepted by almost all countries in the world. It is widely recognized, however, that the implementation of these commitments remains defi cient and fragmented, failing legitimate interests and expectations by children, families and those working in their support. Attention is often focused only on central government level action and developments at the national level. This is problematic, as it leaves efforts in the affected regions and on local ground out of the picture.

10.45 PRESS ROUND TABLE

Coffee Break

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11.15 PANEL 2: THE MAGIC WAND TO CHILD PROTECTION – EMPOWERING LOCAL STAKEHOLDERS HOST: Helmut Sax, Key Researcher, Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Human Rights, Austria Fundamental Rights Agency, tbd. Rüdiger Luchmann, Country Coordinator, UNICEF Austria Nikolina Milic, Legal Offi cer, Belgrade Centre for Human Rights, Serbia Elisabeth Schaffelhofer-Garcia, Coordinator, Network Children‘s Rights, Austria, tbc. Maria Semaan, Child Protection Program Coordinator, KAFA, Lebanon Margaret Tuite, Commission Coordinator for the rights of the child, European Commission

Children are constantly being faced with situations which challenge their rights to protection from violence and exploitation. Mitigating risks and preventing threats to their best interests, while at the same time strengthening children‘s resilience while empowering stakeholders to create a protective environment for children cannot be considered the responsibility of only one duty-bearer, be it local child protection authorities, service providers or law enforcement. The Panel will discuss experiences from the fi eld about how interagency cooperation contributes to such an environment and how it can lead to a better protection of children’s rights, even without the need to resort to the „magic wand“.

12.45 Lunch

14.00 BREAK OUT SESSIONS

EDUCATION & DIVERSITY Maurice Crul, Professor of Sociology, Chair: Diversity and Education, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands Heidi Schrodt, Chair, Bildungsinitiative „BildungGrenzenlos“, Austria

GENDER EQUALITY Besnik Leka, Young Men Initiative, Kosovo

VULNERABILITY IN THE CONTEXT OF EXPLOITATION AND HUMAN TRAFFICKING Irina Todorova, Senior Specialist on Assistance to Vulnerable Migrants, IOM Jihane Essaid, Program Manager Emergency Safe Housing, ABAAD, Lebanon

FOSTERING RESILIENCE IN CHILDREN IN DIFFICULT TIMES Katharina Glawischnig, Expert for unaccompanied minor asylum seekers, Asylkoordination, Austria Elisabeth Brainin, Psychotherapist, ESRA, Austria

PROTECTING CHILDREN AND YOUTH Geneviève Colas, Traffi cking in human beings, Unaccompanied minors, Juvenile Justice,

MAYORS George Antoun, Country Director, Mercy Corps, Lebanon Uta Zeuge-Buberl, Project Manager, Act.Now, Austria

16.00 Coffee Break

16.30 CLOSING CEREMONY

17.15 End

In cooperation with:

Act.Now GmbH E: [email protected] Hohe Warte 28/3 T: +43 1 890 90 05 www.now-conference.org 1190 Vienna, Austria F: +43 1 890 90 05-5 www.act-n-o-w.com

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